[4.5 rounded up]

“When you’re the matriarch of the richest family in southern Massachusetts, everybody wants a piece of you.”


This was a compelling premise and a suspenseful read.

And if you are interested in a suspenseful read that doesn’t have death in it or a murder to solve, this would be a great option for you!

After her grandma’s sudden death (okay ONE death…), almost 18-year-old Lily is sent on a ‘treasure hunt’ for her supposed inheritance.

Some have said this book has The Goonies vibes (which is actually referenced in the book) or is similar to The Inheritance Games. I haven’t seen the former or read the latter, so I can’t speak to whether those are accurate comparisons.

However, I just googled The Goonies and I see it’s described as a group of misfits who find a map and go on a treasure hunt, so (minus the pirates), yes, it does appear to be similar.


Lily is a loner and jealous of her cousin, Daisy (who is essentially the Spare), and her group of friends.

“I’d rather be alone than feel alone with friends who only care about my last name and how much money is in my bank account. Which is currently, like, none.”


Part of the treasure hunt seems to be Gram bringing people into Lily’s life and creating an unexpected group of friends, bonded by the hunt and the danger that it puts them through.


I liked the premise of this book and the context of where the treasure hunt starts. If you haven’t noticed yet, flower names are the theme in the Rosewood family. Hyacinth was the first matriarch and managed to create an entire town (with the family namesake). Then there was Petunia, then Iris (Lily and Daisy’s grandma). Iris had twin sons named Arbor and Alder.

The setting of a town kinda ‘ruled’ or ‘reigned over’ by the Rosewood family creates a close-knit community (with flowers planted everywhere). Lily’s dad and uncle ended up getting a lot of the townspeople into some financial trouble so when Gram dies and the family fortune appears to have ‘disappeared’ it sends the entire town into a hubbub.

“Not only are we up against whatever tricks Gram has in store for us, but now we also have competition? If we don’t solve her clues fast, someone else could get to it first.”


One thing that I didn’t like was the map. Lily ends up having to find three other people with pieces to the map. I wish the map had served more of a purpose than just bringing the four people together. There weren’t really any clues to be found in the map, and they didn’t really need it to solve the clues. I think it should have played a bigger role.

The clues the teens follow are also story-specific so it’s not something the reader can ‘figure out’ alongside the characters. It can be done either way in books, and sometimes it’s fun to be try to solve a riddle or something, but it worked out just fine to merely be a spectator in this story.


I wouldn’t say that I was shocked at any point in the story and I could kind of predict most of the ending. Again, it was okay in this book. It’s a YA book so it makes sense that the author isn’t going to create an overly complex plot line. It didn’t make it less enjoyable for me to read. I was still curious what Gram was up to and how it would all play out.


A major thread in this book is friendship. Reed writes in her acknowledgements, “While The Rosewood Hunt is a story about many things, at its heart, it’s about the friendship that blooms during an unexpected journey.”

(Again the connection to flowers!)

I have mixed feelings about the friendship vibes. With the exception of Gram and Daisy and Lily’s relationship, almost every other familial relationship in the book was strained, negative, or non-existent. This was a story where friendship really seemed to replace family.

I think for teen readers, friendship will hit a lot of chords and is something they are interested in reading about. That’s cool. But at the same time, I feel like it’s pretty rare to maintain high school friendships beyond high school. Friends aren’t always, or usually, forever… at least in a consistent way.

I get it, Lily has lost all her family (besides Daisy) and so in some ways friends will become her family. But I don’t think this is the norm for teens. It almost seemed to glorify friendships above family relationships. And it’s hard to argue when their parents are all terrible. But as a reader who IS a parent and already sees ways the family structure and the role of parents in a child’s life is being undermined, I guess I would have liked to see some more positive family relationships or at least some sort of reconciliation with teens and parental figures.

I could see teens reading this and thinking— ‘all I need is my friends; they will love me better than my parents.’ And the majority of the time, that’s just simply not true.

But, I would be curious what teen readers think when they read this. Perhaps their perception of the story understands those idiosyncrasies.



Another thing I noticed, which I’m not sure I would necessarily want changed, was the caliber of dialogue these teenagers are engaging in. It’s a typical observation I make when I read YA novels so it’s probably just ‘the way it is,’ but sometimes these teenagers are way more self-aware than they would be in reality. And able to articulate some of the feelings in a very mature way (i.e. why they struggle with relationships and getting close to people and why they find it hard to connect with people).

Daisy’s character seemed more in line with what I would expect. But I’m not sure I would want to read a book full of Daisy-caliber characters so I’m not sure how much I should request realism here haha.

And actually, most of the dialogue was well-done and interesting to read. I enjoyed some of the humor sprinkled in as well.



Most YA novels with an adventure have a character who says something heroic like- ‘I can’t have any more people I love getting hurt, so I’m going to finish this by myself. I love you guys and need to protect you because this is all my fault anyway.’ The Rosewood Hunt is no exception.

Do I think teenagers would do this? No. But at the same time, I suppose it’s not a bad thing to portray a character thinking about someone other than themself. I remember being a teen and teens are pretty inward focused and can’t always see how their choices or words affect others. If a character in a book makes them look outward more and desire to put others ahead of themselves, that’s probably a good thing for teens to be reading.


I thought Reed did a good job with the hunt- making it work in the modern setting and considering it came on the heels of the death of a loved one. Sometimes I wondered why characters did or didn’t do something or say something, but for the most part, those ‘holes’ were explained by the end.

Except for Lily’s mom. I’m still not sure what the deal is with both of the moms, really.

And, I do have a money question… if there were very large trusts heavily invested in Rosewood Inc. and then their owners were able to just pull them all out, wouldn’t that tank the company? Also, I really don’t think the trusts should have been fully available at the age of 18— that’s way too much money for a person whose frontal lobe is not fully developed yet…



Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this for an adult audience, but for a YA audience I would see my content advisory below to see if it’s something you would want your teen reading or not.

It’s not a dark, twisty, murderous thriller; it’s a lighter, yet suspenseful read with a fun adventure inspiring friendship. It’s a quick read and one I think a lot of people would enjoy.

I do wish it had less swearing (it seemed to increase in the last 2/3 of the book) and more emphasis on family, but I still liked the book. Especially for a debut novel, I think Reed has crafted a great book!


**Received an ARC via NetGalley*

[Content Advisory: 43 f-words, 54 s-words, 7 b-words, no sexual content, four prominent characters are LGBTQ]